2018 Resolution Update: January

With January in the books, I wanted to update my status with my resolutions.

Budget

I’m happy with my first full month of budgeting, though a few things went over budget. I spent more eating out than I wanted to, and a touch more on miscellaneous purchases but I’ll allow it. There are a few reasons for that.

One of the main reasons I went over both budgets was because of spending in Williamsburg. I wasn’t sure if I should include those costs in my travel budget or not (which has some excess at the moment due to a great flight deal I found). I chose not to.

Another reason I am considering it a success is because I was diligent with my spreadsheet and I made sure to log every transaction in a timely manner. This practice definitely made me more intentional with my spending, which was the whole point. I am thinking of spending some time with Mint this weekend to help automate things a bit. I know I won’t do the spreadsheet forever and I think if I keep the practice of managing my finances daily, it’ll achieve the same effect.

Cooking

I did this. I cooked a lot more this month and I only had one lunch out and it was with a friend. I’ve been buying a lot of groceries on the outside edge of the store meaning lots of vegetables, fruits, and proteins. I did spend a lot of money eating out socially this month – more than normal – but I am glad most of the time I ate out, it was to see good friends. I only bought dinner once because I was lazy.

Losing Weight

This morning I weighed 236. From a number perspective, I failed hard this month. But I think there is more to it than the number shows. I don’t have numbers to back this (I plan to change that for next month’s update), but I feel like if I measured myself, there would be losses. I’ve had more beer than normal this month (social eating out == social drinking), which I believe is the main reason the number hasn’t been going down. I need to cut down on that in February. During the second half of January I started to go to the gym and I want to keep that momentum up. Only allowing myself to watch YouTube on the elliptical sure helped me go downstairs and break a sweat more often.

iOS

I have spent more time this month pricing out flights and AirBNBs to WWDC than coding. That isn’t good. I did convince myself to email Curtis Herbert about one of my app ideas since his experience with Slopes would apply. He got back to me with some advice that I plan to follow. Thanks Curtis! With my grad class starting up, I’m disappointed I didn’t make more headway with my app.

My goal for February is to pick an app to develop and make a few storyboards and features. My guess is it won’t be the one I spoke to Curtis about since I would miss the beginning of the season at this point and I could use my other idea to get more experienced with iOS so I can make a bigger splash with the other idea down the line. I’ll be entering a crowded market with feature rich applications. I will need my A game to get a piece of the pie.